Decision 2018: San Jose City Council Race Too Close to Call

By Ian Cull •Published November 7, 2018•Updated on November 7, 2018 at 11:49 pm

You've heard the old saying every vote counts. That's playing out in the South Bay.

One race is way too close to call, and it could take days to declare a winner.

Thirteen votes is all that separates the two candidates trying to represent San Jose’s District 7, south of downtown. Nearly 10,000 votes have been counted as of Thursday night and incumbent Tam Nguyen has the slight edge over Maya Esparza.

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"I kind of went into this knowing it would be some time," said Esparza.

Esparza expected it because she ran against Nguyen in 2014 for the same seat and lost by 209 votes. This time she hopes for a better outcome.

"We all worked really hard, so at this point all we can really do is just wait and see," she said.

As Election Day brought a historic number of voters in Santa Clara County, the candidates expect a few thousand more votes in the race. County-wide there are at least 270,000 ballots that still need to be counted. The Registrar of Voters office will work 24 hours a day, and hopes to complete the count by November 21.

"We have a few weeks yet to go before we can tie it up with a nice pretty bow and call it done," said spokesperson Wendy Hudson.

If neither side wins by more than 0.25 percent, it will trigger a hand recount.

"For all those people that don't think their vote counts, nights like last night …really show us that every vote does count," said Esparza.

Council member Nguyen declined an interview with NBC Bay Area because he believes a recount is coming. The election will be certified on December 6th.